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Health officials in the UK are set to give the green light to a new treatment for a condition which has not seen any advances in almost six decades. The British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is to issue guidance recommending tocilizumab foFirst new treatment in almost 60 years for inflammatory disease
Health officials in the UK are set to give the green light to a new treatment for a condition which has not seen any advances in almost six decades. The British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is to issue guidance recommending tocilizumab for patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) for use in the NHS in England. Pharmaceutical giant Roche said that until now there has not been any new treatment options for nearly 60 years. Giant cell arteritis, also known as temporal arteritis, causes inflammation in the walls of the arteries in the head and neck, and less commonly the aorta. Patients can suffer symptoms including headache, jaw pain, fatigue and muscle and joint pains. More serious complications include vision loss, stroke, aortic aneurysm and heart attack. They are usually treated with a type of steroids but large doses can be coupled with other adverse affects. Around 15,000 people in the UK develop GCA each year. Tocilizumab, also known as RoActemra, is also used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The drug, given as an injection, works by blocking a protein called IL-6 - the protein is involved in the body's management of inflammation and... Read more